NVQ stands for National Vocational Qualification. It is available to
people in the UK, and is one of the few qualifications that employers
have heard of. If you want to work with computers, and live in the UK,
becoming NVQ certified is quite a good route to take. These certificates
used to have a bad reputation, and were held in such low regard that
the letters NVQ were disparagingly nicknamed Not Very Qualified. Not
any more, though. The course material for all NVQs were radically overhauled
a few years ago, to great success. Doing an NVQ in any subject these
days involves quite a lot of studying.

An NVQ in Information Technology is split in to two different categories:
User, and Practitioner.

There are three NVQ levels to aim for, whichever category you study
for.

NVQ Level One in Information Technology - User

You need 40 points to pass the NVQ level one in Information Technology.
There's a mandatory unit worth 15 points, and the other 25 points can
be made up from about 15 optional units. The most popular optional units
are word processing (10 points), spreadsheets (10 points) and databases
(10 points). Other popular optional units are: email (5 points), internet
(5 points), internet security (5 points).

Although the NVQ level one is fairly basic, and shouldn't take you
too long to complete, it can be quite rewarding if you know very little
about computers. Here's a study list:

The idea is that you do the mandatory unit, and take you pick from
the optional ones. But the total has to add up to at least 40 points.

NVQ Level Two in Information Technology - User

The subjects for level two are pretty much the same as for level one.
The difference is how much you need to learn before you qualify. In
level one, you only needed 40 points to pass; in level two, you need
100. Again, there's a mandatory unit (worth 25 points now), and about
15 optional ones. The optional units will be worth 20 and 15 points
each. You need a more in-depth knowledge to pass level two.

NVQ Level Three in Information Technology - User

If you pass level three it equates to about A Level, which is the pre-university
qualification in the UK for 16 and 17 year olds. You need 180 points
to get your level three NVQ. The mandatory unit is now worth 35 points,
while optional units are 35 and 30. The studying for level three is
far more intense, and you'll be quite the expert when you're done! A
lot of universities are taking on IT students who have passed NVQ level
3.

NVQ Levels One to Three in Information Technology - Practioner

The points on offer for the Practioner NVQ qualifications in IT are
the same as for User above. So for level one, you need 40 points to
pass. The subjects are different, though. To get an idea of whether
this is for you, here's a few of the popular ones:

As you work your way through each NVQ level, the studying gets harder.
Achieve level three and you could gain work in an help desk environment,
with a decent entry-level salary. If you want to move on to higher qualifications
in a support or networking role, gaining a NVQ level three qualification
is an excellent place to start.